90 Day Challenge - Part 2: Financial Fitness

This month I started a 90 Day Challenge to improve my health: spiritually and financially. Please see my previous post on Part 1: God's Word. Welcome to Part 2: Financial Fitness! Onward...

Over the years, I've had my ups and downs financially. I've had hardships. I've had periods of positive cash flow. I've been unemployed. I've worked two jobs while continuing my education. I've worked multiple part-time jobs because I couldn't find a full-time job. Can you relate???

I've also had moments of not knowing how my expenses would be covered and God always provided.I tell ya...struggle can improve your prayer life. God's faithfulness is a blessing and not one to take lightly. I have a responsibility beyond prayer. He is generous enough to allow us all free will. To choose right from wrong. To choose His ways over man's ways.

When a child is irresponsible with what's been entrusted, what does the parent usually do? Take it away, right? The child has a lesson he or she needs to learn. We've all experienced it in some form. We are reminded, "Take care of that which you have been given." God, our Heavenly Father, is no different. He is generous! He is gracious! He is merciful! He gives more than we deserve...and does not give us what we, as sinners, do deserve. But He also expects us to take care of that which He has given us.

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." Remembering that all good gifts come from God, our Father, should prompt us to be especially wise with our finances. When times are tight, it's hard to even think of anything beyond making ends meet. I can relate. I've been there. 

So where do we begin when things are not where they should be financially? I have done several programs and one that has helped me the most is Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover". I've posted a link to the 7 Baby Steps below, as outlined in the book. One of the best things about the book is the many testimonials in it. Having read it a few times, I'm always amazed how different stories resonate with me. I hope you'll take a look for yourself.

http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/

I will attest that sometimes it seems easy to think you can combine baby steps and maybe reach your goal faster. I will also attest...something WILL "come up" and prevent that from happening. Seriously. Just do the steps. One step at a time. Just as it's written. AND you will make strides to improving your financial fitness! Keep it simple. It's not easy, but it IS doable.

As Dave says, "If you live like no one else now, later you will live like no one else." Translation: Make some serious sacrifices now...for a few months to a few years (however long that takes for your situation). Then, when you are DEBT-FREE and building wealth...You will be able to live like most people will not. Why? Because you will be been debt-free and they will be swimming in debt til the end of their time. I don't know about you...but I don't want "debt" to be my legacy! I want FREEDOM! Freedom to live generously and not be enslaved to whatever "The Joneses" have. I want to live like no one else for the glory of my God and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Focus on Scripture Resource (Week 4 recap)

Sunday night we changed up the teaching style a bit and welcomed four new ladies to our class! We missed a number of regulars and hope to see you next week.

If you've been reading along, you'll notice that from Chapter 10 forward (through Chapter 29) the layout of Proverbs changes considerably. From longer passages of Scripture that have a particular theme or focus (as seen in Ch. 1-9), we now get blips of wisdom on various topics. Many of these are repetitive subjects, which is great for utilizing in our Scripture resource (aka Scripture reference). Keep in mind we're now in the section of Proverbs called "The Wise Sayings of Solomon", hence the multi-subject blips. Not all of these sayings are specific promises, some are simply factual statements. As you are reading be sure to read each passage and pause to meditate on that one and it's theme or focus before moving to the next verse. I find that doing so helps me when I read these chapters. I can easily grasp the focus of that verse and jot down where I feel it best applies in my Scripture resource section of my journal. This comes in handy not just when I need it but also when I encounter someone going through a struggle. Knowing I can reference this resource to quickly find an applicable Scripture is wonderful. I hope you'll find someone this week you can minister to by referencing God's Word in this way.

For the next few weeks we will be sharing our topical references in class so as to encourage and admonish each other. This means your participation in class will be crucial. Your journal notes and Scripture reference entries will easily enable your participation and foster discussion during our large group class time. Please be sure to "be prepared" each week with something to share from your journal or reference.

This week we reviewed how the Scripture reference is laid out, various topics of wisdom and verses from our reading that related to those topics. As the group discussion was more in-depth, I'm going to simply record samples of the topics and a few verses so you can get a feel for how to lay out your reference if you have not started one already. For example, in the back of my journal I have designated a section for my reference (so it's all in one place, that's easier for me...you may wish to have a separate notebook for this and that's fine too). I have designated at least one front and back page of my journal to each of the various topics of wisdom. In class we shared our various topics and reviewed and discussed some of the verses we put in each topic. 

Some of the reference topics we came up with and corresponding verses were:

Righteous/Believers (Promises/Facts)
10:28, "hope vs perish"

Mouth (Practical)
10:19, "shut up"
10:31-32, "righteous"
11:13, "gossip
12:17, "speak truth"

Vocation
11:1, "integrity in sales"
12:11, "worker vs slacker"
12:14, "worker vs slacker"
13:4,  "worker vs slacker"

Family/Parenting
13:24, "discipline your kids"

Marital
12:4, "excellent wife"
12:16, "slow to anger"

Moral
11:17, "kindness"
13:14, "wisdom=life"

Financial
11:24, "generosity"
11:26, "don't withhold"
11:28, "don't trust wealth"

As we discussed in class, there are no "right and wrongs" per se...your topics may have different titles, which is fine. You may have chosen to put some verses under a different topic, which is also fine. So many verses are applicable to more than one topic. These are just some ideas to get you started. The descriptions beside the verses above are the ones I jotted down to jog my memory of the verse's point so I can easily reference it later. Your descriptions may be different...what ever makes sense to you as you'll be the one referencing your own resource in the future. I want to be sure this is something that will be of benefit to YOU so just lay it out as best suits you.  

Be sure to come Sunday for the review and discussion. Claudine Snyder will be leading the class in my absence. Be praying for her as she prepares and pray for me this week. Thank you ladies! 

**Remember to contact your accountability/small group members to encourage them this week too.**